Dragon Ball AS
by swift56
Summary: Memories of another world, one that had observed his own, give him a chance to change everything about himself, and try to make a different, possibly better future, as the merged soul of a human, and of the saiyan Raditz fights to protect the Earth.
1. Prologue: A Saiyan's Rebirth!

**Ok, this is stupid, I was so happy that I was finally able to save the chapter that I forgot to do my usual small edit of it first before posting it.**

 **ANYWAY!**

 **As the summary blurb tells you, this story is centered around Raditz, and is an AU of Dragon Ball with him joining the Z Fighters.**

 **Yes, I know, it's been done to death, even Masako X did a whole 10 episode series about it.**

 **But if you check the pairing, you'll see what makes mine different.**

 **Yeah, Android 21 is a part of the story.**

 **You'll see how soon enough though.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

A gasp, as a pair of eyes were flung open, their owner trying to stand up, only to bang their head against a piece of metal.

A hiss escaped their lips as they sat back down, their hand reaching up to rub the spot they banged against the ceiling. Groaning slightly, they couldn't help but wonder what happened. Why were they inside some kind of metal capsule? Heck, now that they thought about it, the last thing they remembered was…

Dying, they had been dying, moments from breathing their last breath, but, they were clashing memories as to just HOW they were dying, one memory was of them fighting against a surprisingly vicious race of aliens, and one of them getting a lucky hit in that caused them to start to bleed out at a steady rate, which would explain the pool of blood at their feet.

But the other memory was, well, more tame in a sense, they had been rock climbing with one of their cousins when the rock their hook had been put into suddenly fell loose, causing them to plummet to their death.

In both cases they had been injured, and were barely holding on, the first memory of them getting into their pod after killing the bastard that wounded them, hoping to just walk the wound off, while the second memory was of their cousin shouting in worry as they started to climb back down as quickly as they could.

Anything before that was blurry at the moment, as they tried to piece everything together. Even their name escaped them.

It was then that their full situational awareness started to kick in, albeit at a slow rate as they started taking everything in.

The interior design of the pod was familiar, not just to the first set of memories, but also to the second, just as they knew that the outside was shaped like a sphere, with a single red window on the door that would open only upon landing on a planet with a breathable atmosphere of oxygen.

They then realised their left eye covered by a green glass of some sort, almost like a monocle, which, when they removed, both sets of memories identified as a Scouter, the same kind used by the Planet Trade Organizaton, or PTO for short, under the control of Frieza, a rather cruel Arcosian.

For some reason, the second set of memories was making him feel validated, as the first set confirmed that Arcosian was indeed the name of Frieza's species.

The mystery continued as they finally took notice of the gauntlet covering their forearm, which looked eerily familiar to the second set of memories, making them look down to see their torso covered in the standard PTO armor, with shoulder guards, hip guards, and a plate over the crotch area.

The color of their armor though was mainly black, with the remaining pieces being a dark shade of brown.

Though, the armor was far from intact, as a hole could be seen on their chest, not very far from the heart, but it was over the area where one of their lungs was at least, the skin covered in dried blood with a prominent scar over the area, visible after the removed the blood.

They were still confused, but more of the mystery was slowly starting to solve itself, such as them finally remembering they were a male, and they could confirm that they worked for Frieza… though they felt like changing that, since the second set of memories knew, well, a lot more than the first did, which was slowly all coming back.

It was as everything from the second set settled in, and he remembered their favorite show, up to the episode that had aired just a few days prior, that the first set of memories all came back, making the man blink as everything settled in his mind and he remembered who he was.

He was Raditz, eldest son of the Saiyan warrior Bardock and his wife Gine, and elder brother to the eventual greatest warrior of Earth, Son Goku, or rather Kakarot.

It all felt so strange to him, as the memories of his past mended with the memories the human half of him had of several different shows.

Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Kai, and Dragon Ball Super, along with 19 movies worth of knowledge, all interlacing with what he knew as Raditz.

It certainly helped paint a larger picture, as he knew that Frieza was the one to blame for Planet Vegeta's destruction, and that his father had fought the tyrant till the bitter end.

It made him proud to say that he was Bardock's son.

He also knew that his original mentality as a Saiyan was… wrong.

He had been a coward, one who prefered underhanded tactics, he could admit that much.

He wanted to become a proud warrior now… and with the knowledge from the human side helping him, he might even be able to change Earth's timeline to be slightly better.

For starters, he wasn't going to be antagonistic towards his little brother like his original self would have been, no, he'd offer himself as an ally for things to come.

The arrival of Vegeta and Nappa, the battle against Frieza, the arrival of the androids, the fight with Cell, the battle against Majin Buu, Beerus's appearance on earth, Frieza's resurrection, Zamasu's Zero Mortal Plan, and the Tournament of Power.

He was going to have plan for all of those, to try and make them turn out better.

Maybe he could even prevent some deaths, even if that would certainly be difficult… and in the long run, unneeded thanks to the dragon balls.

But, still, it was the thought that counts.

Though… he winced as he realised this would mean he would have to lie to people he would want to make his allies, his friends, for over the next 10 years, if not many more.

Already it made him feel guilty, that he had knowledge of the future, more than what Trunks had even, and that he likely couldn't risk telling anyone.

Still, he planned on using that knowledge for good, just like Trunks did, the only difference being he wasn't time travelling, so he probably wasn't going to piss off the Supreme Kai of Time… at least he hoped she didn't get pissed, getting an earful from Chronoa just sounded like a hassle.

He probably wouldn't though, hell, he had a feeling that this would count as a new timeline being born instead of a change occuring to history.

Slowly, he fell deep into his thoughts, thinking up possible plans, scenarios, and changes, that might happen down the line, what with having nothing better to do until he reached Earth.

After what felt like days, during which he ended up exhausting his rations, even if he was stretching them out as much as he can, he finally saw a familiar blue planet, slowly getting larger as he flew towards it.

'Thinking about it, it really is a beautiful sight, one that I wouldn't have enjoyed without the human half, or never even gotten a chance to see without the saiyan half.' he thought to himself with a smile as he looked at where he would hopefully be able to call his home for the rest of his life.

He'd made a lot of plans over the last few days, a lot of them helping him realise how… finicky, the timeline was during the Z period, considering how many of his brother's enemies turned into allies, though he expected to have a lot more leeway during the Super period… although, he was curious as to what would be happening for that, since the manga and anime both had quite the good number of differences between them.

His thoughts were halted as he finally entered the atmosphere, his pod shaking a bit at the turbulence as a corona of heat surrounded it due to the friction.

He only had to wait for a good 10 seconds, before he was jostled from the crash, his pod creating a crater as it dug down into the earth due to the force of the impact.

He took a moment to make sure everything was in order, before opening the pod manually, grabbing something that was hidden in his seat, and stepping out of it, and having to cover his eyes at the sudden sunlight that blinded him for a few moments.

After a moment to readjust his eyesight, he stepped out of the crater he had made, and came face to face with… the farmer from the first episode of DBZ.

'This is either going to be sad or hilarious.' Raditz thought to himself as his scouter automatically scanned the man that held a shotgun in fear 'I know power levels are bullshit, but a power level of 5 is just sad.'

"Y-you're on m-my property…!" the farmer said, trying and failing miserably to be intimidating. Honestly, even with the shotgun, he looked ready to wet himself at any moment.

Raditz heaved an internal sigh at how fearful the man was being, before raising his hand "Look, I'm-" and he was cut off by the farmer squeezing the trigger, shooting Raditz… only for the bullets to flatten themselves against him, even the ones that hit his skin.

Both were silent for a few moments, before Raditz spoke "Ok… that stung a little… thanks for reminding me how much I hate mosquitos." he grumbled the last part to himself before sighing audibly this time "Look, sir, I'm here in peace, alright?" he said, even adding in a certain sign from an old TV show.

However, instead of having the intended effect...the farmer's eyes rolled into his head and he fell into a dead faint...and the smell of urine confirmed that yes, he DID wet himself.

Raditz pinched his nose as one of the many ostrich like birds that dotted the farm looked at the farmer oddly and started pecking him in the stomach "Welp, at least he should be happy to live." he said, before taking off into the sky, letting go of his nose when he was high enough.

'Honestly, I don't think he was even brought back by Shenron… hell, how many people WERE forgotten? Pretty sure they never made a wish to bring back those killed by Nappa when him and Vegeta landed. At any rate, for all the BS these scouters are, they're at least good for something,' he thought, before using it to try and find high power levels. True enough, he soon found a few...though now he considered how best to do this. Considering he didn't want to be a threat, there was no point in going to where Piccolo was. At the same time though, did he really want to crash the reunion party?

'I guess… I'll let Kakarot have his reunion with his friends for a little bit, and go find Piccolo for now, who knows, maybe it would be best to make him tail me in case something comes up.' He thought with a nod, having to wrack his brain a bit to remember which of the numbers exactly was Piccolo… only to not remember it, due to how long ago that had been, and how much of a throwaway line it had been at that.

'Oh well, who knows, maybe I'll find some of the other Z fighters first.' he resigned himself with a sigh, as he rocketed off towards one of the power levels.

The human part of him was certainly giddy at the fact he was flying almost as fast as a jet… though he could probably make a sonic boom if he put more of his Ki into it.

Best not to attract too much attention though.

After a few minutes, and rising up into the clouds to make himself harder to spot, he reached what he was pretty sure was West City, and was hovering above a baseball stadium.

'Huh, didn't think Yamcha had a game going on during the first episode.' he thought to himself with a smirk as he floated down enough that he could see the action better, seeing the Wolf Fang Fist user walking up to the batter's position and getting ready, before hitting a homerun with rather obvious ease.

Raditz couldn't help himself and let out a laugh as the ball landed perfectly in his hand after it got out of the stadium, before deciding to mess with Yamcha's head a bit as he threw it right back towards him after he completed his run, not even being surprised as the scarred man turned around and caught it, the whole stadium becoming confused at the fact the ball had come back, while Raditz merely flew away with a grin.

Back at the stadium, Yamcha tracked the dot that was Raditz as it flew away, a raised eyebrow underneath his baseball cap "Who was that guy?" he mumbled, before focusing back on what was going on in the stadium, the game wasn't done yet after all.

As for Raditz, he continued to fly, tracking power levels to see if they were going to be Piccolo, he only knew which one was Kakarot because it was the highest on the planet.

This time, he ended up near a large waterfall, some sort of canyon ridge thing (he doesn't know the name, sue him) above the lake, with a capsule house standing on it.

'This is… vaguely familiar.' he thought to himself, his face in a confused frown as he tried to remember where he had seen this place before.

"Hey."

The sudden voice behind him startled him, so focused on his thoughts had he been that he had not noticed his scouter notifying him of a power level getting behind him, turning around to see a bald man with three eyes, wearing training clothes in white and green.

'Oh right, this is where Tien and Chiaotzu live with Launch.' he finally remembered as Tien looked at him with his arms crossed.

"What are you doing here?" the human(?) asked impassively.

'Honestly, is he human though? The third eye just confuses me.' "I was looking for someone, safe to say, you're not him. But maybe you can help me, he'd have black hair, rather wild looking, and would have a tail just like mine." Raditz said as he unwounded his tail from his waist.

Tien eyed the tail, blinking in recognition "That sounds just like Goku… are you related to him?"

Raditz couldn't help the chuckle that came from his lips "Indeed, I'm his older brother, though I doubt he knows this, our parents sent him away when he was just a baby."

"Sent him away?" Tien repeated in confusion.

Raditz simply nodded, before he mentally grinned at a funny idea to possibly embarrass his little brother "I even have a picture of him from when he was born if that helps confirm we're talking about the same person." he said, pulling a picture from his armor and handing it to Tien.

On the picture, Tien could see who he assumed was Goku's father, a man who looked just like him except with tan skin and scars, his eyes holding a far more serious look as he smirked at the camera, wearing an armor similar to what the man before him wore, just missing the shoulder pads, and with green replacing the brown. Said man was also on the picture, down in the corner, grinning as he looked more like a young teenager back when the picture was taken, wearing the exact same armor he did now, albeit in a smaller size. And in the middle of the picture was a woman with soft features, the same black colored hair as everyone else in the picture, and obviously who Goku got most of his facial features from, holding said boy in her arms, being nothing but a newborn baby at that moment. Tien had to smirk as he saw that Goku was actually born with his wild hairstyle.

"Yeah, that's him alright." Tien said as he handed the photo back to Raditz who slipped back into his armor "I don't really know where he is at the moment, last I saw him, he was heading off to get married with a girl he promised to marry when he was just a kid."

"I feel like there's more to the story." Raditz said with a smirk, though he already knew the punchline.

Tien nodded with a chuckle "Goku thought marriage was a type of food."

Raditz couldn't help it, he just burst out laughing, as actually hearing it straight from one of his little brother's friends somehow made it all that much more hilarious.

Tien shook his head in amusement himself as he remembered when Goku admitted to it, right in front of Chi Chi's face, though he had made up for it by quickly agreeing to marrying her still now that he knew what it meant.

Eventually, the two got their amusement under control, as Raditz wiped a tear from his eye after a good laugh, nodding in thanks to Tien "Well, thanks for trying to help, I'll probably see you around." he said, Tien nodded as he took off, the three eyed man floating back down to the house below.

When he landed in front of the house, the door which was slightly cracked open was fully swung open, with Tien staring down at his trusted friend Chiaotzu, and then looking back up at the currently blonde haired Launch.

"So, who was that weirdo?" Launch asked, nodding at the dot that was Raditz.

"Goku's older brother." Tien said with a small smirk as he stepped inside, the other two remaining outside, frozen in shock, before both of them let out a loud "WHAT?!" as they ran back inside to get more details.

Back with Raditz, he was checking on his scouter, and only two sources remained to be checked. One lone power level, a high one, and a small group of power levels, two small ones, one higher one, and two average ones.

'Well, the choice is obvious.' he thought with a smirk as he rocketed off towards the lone power level.

After about a minute, he came out of his high speed flight, stopping in front of the shocked Piccolo, who he remembered at the moment was still very much evil.

Putting on his best surprised face, he blinked, rubbing his eyes for good measure "A Namekian? What's one of your kind doing all the way out here?"

"What?" Piccolo repeated in confusion, reminding him that Piccolo actually believed himself to be a demon at this point in time, and that both him and Kami had actually forgotten for the most part about their home planet.

"Clearly you're of the Warrior Clan, considering your power level, but now I find myself wondering if any Dragon Clan members are present." Raditz mused, seemingly to himself, but restrained a smirk as he saw even more confusion dance in Piccolo's eyes, and some familiarity to the words it seemed.

It was fun to make someone who always seemed so stoic just look so lost.

"Well, you're not the one I'm looking for though." Raditz said after a moment, raising his hand to his scouter, putting on an act as he visibly smirked "But that one definitely is." he said, before quickly taking off towards Kame House.

Left behind was a stunned and confused Piccolo, who looked at Raditz's retreating form for a few moments, before keeping his power level down and following after him, taking large leaps across the plateau filled area.

Raditz spared a moment to glance behind himself, smirking when he saw Piccolo mid leap, glad he'd gotten his attention enough to intrigue him and force him to follow.

Soon, he saw his target, a little pink house on a small island with nothing but a pair of palm trees on it, the horizon being nothing but waves for miles.

'Jeez, really gotta try to hammer in the hermit idea don't you Roshi? Too bad you just have your privacy so you can read all your magazines and watch your exercise videos in peace… I wonder if he even knows that porn exists?' Raditz mentally mused to himself as he slowly touched down on the island.

Standing in front of him, having sensed the approach of a high power, was a man with wild black hair, wearing an orange gi.

Raditz smiled as he looked at him "Took me long enough to find you, Kakarot."

* * *

 **So, yeahp! That's where we're stopping for now!**

 **Cliffhanger, I know, but hey, you gotta have them sometimes to interest people more.**

 **Now, as you saw, yes, Raditz has had some more interaction with other characters, a while discussion with Tien, trolling Yamcha, and messing with Piccolo.**

 **Believe me, there's a lot more unique moments like that on the way.**

 **Oh, and if you don't know what Goku and Raditz's mother looks like, just look up Gine from Dragon Ball Minus, that's her, she's a butcher.**

 **See you next time, on Dragon Ball AS!**


	2. Chapter 1: Dead Zone

**Well, here's the next chapter already guys!**

 **And as the chapter title will tell you, we're starting things off with the first DBZ movie, Dead Zone!**

 **Yeah, the movies are gonna be squeezed into canon as much as I can, but I won't force the impossible ones.**

 **Nor will I use the horrible experience that is Bio-Broly.**

 **Anyway, on with the show!**

* * *

 _*Music*_

As the music starts, the scene shows the one star Dragon Ball with the reflection of a 'Z', which moves down and reveals an 'AS' that takes up the surface of the Dragon Ball.

 _Hikaru Kumo wo Tsukinuke Fly Away (Fly Away)_

The scene then changes to show the title screen 'Dragon Ball AS', with the backdrop making it seem like a high speed flight scene.

 _Karadajuu ni Hirogaru PANORAMA_

The scene changes to show Goku riding on the nimbus cloud, before Gohan crawls up his leg from behind him, followed by Goku soon putting him on his shoulder as father and son ride through the sky.

 _Kao wo Kerareta Chikyuu ga Okotte (Okotte)_

The scene changes to show Raditz standing on a mountain, as a faded image of a humanoid figure appears behind him, before several Dragon Balls shoot past him, causing him and the image to look towards the direction they went in surprise.

 _Kazan wo Bakuhatsu Saseru_

The scene then changes again to show Shenron, before Gohan is seen running on top of his back, before jumping off and flying a little, before Krillin, Tien, and Chiaotzu all fly past him, much to his surprise, followed by Goku and Raditz who give him encouraging smiles causing Gohan to smile and fly after them.

 _Toketa Koori no Naka ni_

The scene changes to show a somewhat faded image of a mountain, with a figure falling off, seemingly to his death, before the scene zooms out to show the grin of a seemingly featureless humanoid figure who grins at the screen

 _Kyouryuu ga Itara Tamanori Shikomitai ne_

A solid image of Raditz appears next to the figure before the two seemingly merge, before Raditz smirks at the screen.

 _CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA. Nani ga Okite mo Kibun wa Henoheno Kappa_

The scene then changes to space, as two red spheres fly towards the screen, before coming down like meteors, before a scene shows Vegeta and Nappa walking towards the screen away from the crash site, confident smirks on their faces.

 _CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA. Mune ga PACHIPACHI suru hodo_

The scene shifts to show a close up of Piccolo's face as his eyes widen, before changing to scene of him seemingly standing before a massive explosion, followed by a quick shot of Raditz crushing his scouter before looking to the sky.

 _Sawagu Genki Dama CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA_

The scene changes to show the Z-warriors fighting against Nappa, before changing to a scene of Goku gathering his energy and raising his arms up to create a Spirit Bomb.

 _Atama Karappo no Hou ga Yume Tsumekomeru_

The scene changes to show Gohan jumping from mountain to mountain showing the fruits of his training as Shenron rises from the clouds in the background.

 _CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA Egao URUTORA ZETTO de Kyou mo AIYAIYAIYAIYAI...Sparking!_

Gohan jumps upward, and the scene shift to show him in his training Gi, before he soon falls to the ground, landing on Goku's shoulder, as the two ride the Nimbus cloud, Raditz flying by with a smile on his face, before the scene changes to show Goku throwing the Spirit Bomb, ending with a scene of the Z-Warriors along with Raditz and Gohan standing together.

* * *

 **Dead Zone**

* * *

'Oh god I hope his voice is from Sean and not one of his other voice actors.' Raditz thought to himself as he looked at his little brother, who gave him the most confused look possible.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could also see Bulma, Krillin, Roshi, and Gohan peeking out through a crack in the door.

He mentally smirked at seeing his nephew 'I'm gonna make sure you turn out even stronger than you originally did, trust me kid.'

As for a certain orange wearing Saiyan's head, his thoughts were just confusion 'Who is this guy? Why is he so strong? And why is he calling me Kakarot?'

Finally, he decided to start voicing his thoughts "My name's not Kakarot, it's Goku. Sorry, but I think you're confusing me with someone else."

Raditz shook his head "No, it's definitely you, sure, others of our kind look like you, but you have mother's features."

Goku's confusion got so high, his face was looking rather comical at the moment "Um, others of our kind? And what do you mean by mother?" it was after he spoke that him and Raditz heard a phone start to go off inside the house, both of them looking at it with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting the darn thing." they both heard Roshi's voice say before he headed further into the house.

Glancing back at each other, the two saiyans shrugged after a moment "Anyway, this conversation is probably better had inside where we can sit down, trust me, I've got a lot to say."

* * *

A few minutes later

"WHAT?!" was heard from four different voices inside of Kame House, the combined volume actually shaking the home.

Inside, Raditz was digging his pinky into his ear "Jeez, you guys sure do get loud. What, never heard of the old 'long lost brother' scenario?"

"Well, I mean, that part's normal since I can sort of see the family resemblance, but, come on, you're saying Goku's an alien?! And hell, you're making him sound like Superman a bit, the only difference is your dad was a fighter and not a scientist." Bulma shot back, pacing behind the couch.

'Wait, they actually have the Superman comics here? Neat, I can make fun of the boyscout now.' Raditz thought to himself as he watched one of the smartest people on earth start to mutter to herself.

"Honestly I'm more stuck on the part where he said he killed people." Krillin muttered from his spot behind Goku, the newly revealed Saiyan looking at his best friend in a bit of amusement at being used like a shield.

"And like I said right after, it was the only way I had to not get a beam through my heart courtesy of that bastard Frieza. Besides, after that near death experience, I had to rethink my values a bit, ask myself if what I was doing with my life was really worth it." Raditz shot back, his arms crossed as he sat on the couch, leaving his tail unwound as it hanged off the side of the couch, Gohan staring at it curiously and looking between it and his own tail.

Raditz couldn't help himself, smirking as he moved his tail and used it to tickle Gohan's nose, making the little boy sneeze and back away slightly so it doesn't happen again.

"Well, at least you're more believable after Tien's phone call." Roshi said off to the side as he looked at Raditz from behind his shades "Still, what do you plan to do?"

Raditz hummed in thought at the turtle hermit's question "Well, a part of me wants to train to take on Frieza one day, the guy deserves to die for everything he's done after all."

"And the other part?" Goku asked his older brother, his brain taking a moment to realise that's going to take some getting used to.

"Exploring Earth, it seems like it has a lot to offer after all." he replied with a shrug. When they looked at him oddly, he added, "Considering I'm done working for that bastard and basically destroying planets, I'd like to actually stop and appreciate things for once."

After a few moments, Goku grinned at him "Well, I'm not complaining, it'll be nice to have someone so strong to spar with."

Raditz chuckled "That's your saiyan blood speaking right there Kakarot. It's good to see that part of you is still intact."

"Speaking of that, we know Saiyans are pretty identical to humans besides the tail, but is there anything else that makes them unique?" Bulma asked, pulling a notepad and a pen from her pockets, her scientific mind curious.

Raditz nodded "Well, for starters we turn into giant monkeys on full moons." he said, eliciting a wince from Bulma, Roshi and Krillin, and a look of slowly dawning realisation on Goku's face, making him blink before remembering a certain detail from the original series.

'Right, Kakarot accidentally killed his grandfather after looking at the full moon when he was a child.' he said, restraining his wince as he wasn't supposed to know that.

"I… I'm gonna have to apologise to grampa when I see him again one day." Goku said with a sigh as he sat straight.

Raditz waited a moment, making sure his little brother was calm again, before continuing "We can also experience something known as a Zenkai Boost. Essentially, when a Saiyan comes back from a difficult battle, they become far stronger, and if they come back from a near death experience, well, the power boost is rather large." he said, with the three humans slowly looking towards Goku and all speaking at the same time "That explains so much."

"Then there's a pair of legends passed around by the saiyan race, about something called a Super Saiyan, said to be one of the most powerful warriors of our race, though the only thing the legend has to identify one is a passage about golden hair. Then there's another legend, about a Super Saiyan GOD, a warrior who fought against evil hearted saiyans several centuries ago. All I know about that legend is that to attain that kind of power, multiple saiyans are needed. But, as I said, their just that, legends, and seeing as our race is a little...short on numbers...at the moment, I doubt we'd be able to test that out anytime soon." Raditz said with a shrug, though he knew that his little brother would prove both of those legends to be true.

"A Super Saiyan, huh?" Goku said, lost in thought, before grinning widely "That sounds awesome! I totally wish I could fight something like that!"

"Okay...didn't know there was such a thing as TOO much Saiyan blood," Raditz sweatdropped.

"Welcome to our world." the three humans said dryly as they looked at Goku in deadpan.

Sometime later, as Raditz and Goku were chatting a bit, Goku looking at the picture Raditz carried with him, as said armored saiyan was… confused.

'That's odd, my scouter isn't picking up Piccolo at all, did I lose him earlier?' he wondered in confusion.

Then, right after thinking that, his scouter picked up three sudden power levels nearby, Goku's head snapping up as he dropped the picture, Raditz grabbing it and putting it back in his armor as he and his brother ran out of the house just in time to see three figures get away with Gohan, Roshi's turtle friend pushed onto his back.

"Dammit! I have to go!" Goku growled, about to run and jump, before Raditz held him back.

"Calm your head Kakarot! It won't do to rush in with a clouded mind, not in this kind of situation." Raditz said, trying to reason with him.

"They took my son!" Was all Goku said, his anger clear on his face.

"And he's my nephew, and we're going to get him back, I promise! But we NEED a plan." Raditz shot back, grabbing both of Goku's shoulders and looking him in the eye as he spoke.

Goku grit his teeth, before nodding after a few moments "Alright, let's think of something then."

With that said, they headed back inside, informing the others about what they had just witnessed, as they started to make a plan of attack.

Thankfully, they were able to track Gohan thanks to the dragon ball on his hat, and found that whoever had taken him, also had 4 more dragon balls.

Something about that seemed familiar to Raditz, trying to remember everything he could from the early days of DBZ.

"They're probably going to try and find the last two dragon balls." Bulma noted as they all looked at the radar.

"Well, it's a good thing I don't keep them in my house then, well, the new one, there in my old house." Goku said, glancing up from the radar.

"The one you lived in when we met?" Bulma asked for clarification, receiving a nod from him.

"Looks like they're in the south, it's probably gonna get warm down there." Roshi observed as he stroked his beard.

"Right, time to go save my son." Goku said as he grabbed the power pole, which he had thankfully brought with him, before stepping out of Kame House and shouting into the sky "Let's go Nimbus!"

Raditz eyed the cloud as sped down from the sky and stopped in front of Goku "You have a sentient cloud?" he asked. Honestly the nimbus had started to slip his mind in recent years, the last time he had seen it was as part of the awakened skill for humans in Xenoverse 2.

"Yeah, but he only lets those that are pure of heart ride him." Goku said as he climbed on.

Curious, Raditz walked up to it, lifting his leg and trying to put it on it, only for it to go through and hit the sand, making him shrug "I tried." he said to himself before looking up at his brother "Can't you fly though?"

Goku rubbed his head in a bit of embarrassment. "Yeah, but I'm not the fastest at it, not yet at least, all the others are better than me at it, even Krillin and Yamcha, and they learned it after I did."

Raditz blinked, surprised at the tidbit of information that during the early days, there was something Krillin was better than Goku at. However, he quickly shook his head. He needed to focus on the issue at hand.

"Enough about that, let's go." Raditz said, before taking off, Goku following behind him on the nimbus as they headed south. "Okay, so first things first, when we find whoever kidnapped Gohan, we need to try and gauge them first," Raditz said, before getting a small smirk. "Fortunately my Scouter is perfect for this kind of situation. All we need is to find them from a distance, and I'll be able to calculate their power levels and compare them to ours."

Goku glanced at him "And how does it do with hidden power levels?"

Raditz was silent for a few moments "... Well…I guess that explains why yours was so low..." he said, looking a little awkward. "Okay...this could be a problem...though its not like we're gonna stop."

Goku smirked for a moment, before focusing ahead "I can still just barely sense them, I don't think they can hide their own power levels."

"You're gonna have to teach me how to do that then, considering it has a higher range than my scouter." Raditz shot back.

"As soon as Gohan's safe." was Goku's quick reply.

"Of course." Raditz said with a nod, before a thought crossed his mind "If you were to put your current strength in a percentage to your max, what would it be?"

Goku hummed in thought at the question "I guess… maybe 25% of my full power?"

Raditz did some quick mental math "I think we should be in the clear then. Between the two of us, these shouldn't be too much of a problem."

With that said, the two continued on south, Raditz still trying to remember why all of this seemed familiar.

It finally hit him when they saw a whole area of the sky be orange while the rest was normal.

'Oh, great, the first DBZ movie, we're gonna be meeting Garlic Jr.' he uttered a mental sigh at thinking of one of the weakest DBZ villains there was, actually needing immortality to survive being attacked by Goku and Piccolo who were still weak back then.

Suddenly, the sky turned dark everywhere they looked, both of them knowing what it meant.

"Looks like they managed to get the last two balls and summoned Shenron." Goku said, managing to barely see a green serpentine shape in the distance.

"What the hell is that?" Raditz said, remembering to act surprised since he wasn't supposed to know about anything on Earth.

"That's Shenron, the eternal dragon, he appears when you've collected all seven dragon balls." Goku explained simply.

A few moments later, the shape lit up, disappearing into the sky as 7 lights shot off into the distance, one light heading right for the two of them, Raditz catching sight of 4 stars inside the light before catching it in his hand, the dragon ball turned back into stone for the next year.

Raditz eyed it, before tossing it to his little brother, who slipped it into his gi.

After a minute more of flying, the two brothers dropped down close to what appeared to be a tree in a courtyard, a few people already there.

Garlic Jr was standing near the entrance to his castle, his three henchmen in front of him, while standing glaring in front of them was Kami.

"So, you guys must be the creeps who took my son." Goku said as he got in a stance, ready to move at a moment's notice.

"Who's the namekian?" Raditz said, glancing at Kami.

Said guardian of Earth rose a brow at the name used to describe him, before looking back ahead "I am Kami, the guardian of this planet, I don't believe we've met before though."

"He's my older brother." Goku answered Kami's unspoken question, the elder namekian blinking in surprise, before steeling his features.

"I see, it's good you found some of your family Goku. Now then, from what I can feel your son is inside… good luck." Kami said, Goku nodding at the information, before blurring into motion, jumping at one of the columns, bouncing off of it to jump right into the entrance, while Raditz flew in between the goons, spin kicking all three of them before following after his brother.

As Goku and Raditz ran deeper into the castle, they eventually reached what looked like a reception hall of some sorts.

"Gohan! Where are you?!" Goku shouted as he was about to run up the steps, before Garlic Jr's three henchmen surrounded him and Raditz.

"If you want the kid, you're gonna have to go through us." the grey skinned one said.

"We don't have time for this." Raditz said as he faced the green skinned one, honestly it reminded him of a Saibaman a bit.

"Well you're gonna have to make time! But first, our formal introductions. I am Ginger." the green skinned one said with a grin.

"You can call me Nicky." The blue skinned one said with a chuckle.

"And I, am Sancho." The grey skinned one finished with a smirk.

"Soon all of you are going to be dead." Raditz said, getting into a fighting stance, Goku doing the same.

Apparently Garlic's goons were taking the combined threat of the brothers seriously, as they buffed themselves up, enhancing their strength somewhat… though Raditz had to question the reason as to why they had to say Gingerbread, Tooty-Fruity, and Cheese, of all things to initiate a power up.

"I'll take the short one." Raditz said to his little brother, earning him a nod, before he flew at Ginger, rushing in only to reveal he was an afterimage as the short grunt punched at him, before getting kneed in the back of the head.

At the same time, Goku jumped up to the top of the stairs, right in between Sancho and Nicky, doing a split kick to knock them both away from each other, before going after Nicky first.

Back to Raditz, he could stop his grin from showing as he ragdolled Ginger around.

This may or may not be related to him picturing Frieza's face over him.

'I'm probably enjoying this more than I should, but fuck it! This is the most fun I've had in ages!' he thought as he grabbed Ginger by the back of his head and slammed him on the ground.

Ginger twitched from underneath Raditz's hand "U-uncle…!" he rasped out, at a loss for air.

Raditz grinned "That's right, I AM an uncle, thank you for noticing." Then he grabbed Ginger by the back of his collar and lifted him up to eye level. "Now where's my nephew?! Tell me now, and I promise I won't rearrange your face more than I already have!"

Just as Ginger seemed to decide to give him an answer, his eyes went up, Raditz looking over his shoulder to see a ki blast heading straight for him, before smirking as another one collided with it, tracking it's path to see Krillin, his arms moving out from the Kamehameha pose.

"Good of you to join us Krillin, and thanks for the assist." Raditz told the short man with a nod, earning him a bashful look as Krillin rubbed the back of his head with a grin.

It was then that Krillin stopped as he could feel some sort of warm liquid hitting the top of his head and running down his face, him and Raditz looking up, with the long haired man having to hold in his laughter as he saw a tipsy looking Gohan pissing on the bald man.

Meanwhile back at Kame House, Roshi was walking out of the bathroom before tripping over himself as he heard a very loud "WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY?!" that sounded very much like Krillin.

Back at Garlic Jr's castle, Krillin was busy getting the taste of piss out of his mouth, hacking and coughing all the while, as Gohan finally pulled his pants back up.

'I forgot those apples in the castle were alcoholic for some reason.' Raditz thought, shaking his head "Hey, Krillin, my brother's a bit occupied at the moment, but I'm sure he'd be asking you to go and grab his son to make sure he stays out of trouble."

Krillin nodded "Right… god I hope no one ever hears about this." he muttered that last part to himself, before running up the stairs, screeching to a halt as he peered into the hallway, his face palling as a figure walked out of it.

Raditz looked up the stairs, smirking a bit "Well, if it isn't the namekian from a few hours ago."

And indeed, Piccolo was standing there, arms crossed as he glared at everyone in the room.

Goku paused in his beating of Nicky to look at the green skinned man "Piccolo? What are you doing here?"

"Normally I'd say I'm here to kill you Goku, but just for today, you aren't my target. I have a score to settle with these morons." Piccolo said, before jumping up to the floor Sancho was at, staring down the grey skinned goon, before disappearing in a burst of speed, appearing behind him and spin kicking him into a wall and into the next room over.

Raditz chuckled, shaking his head, before grinning as he looked back at Ginger "Now then, as for you… guess I didn't need you after all."

Ginger began to sweat as he could understand what Raditz meant by that, not having the time to plead his case as he was thrown into the air.

Raditz grinned as he reared his arms back, charging two spheres of pink energy in his hands, before aiming them upwards at Ginger "Double Sunday!" he called out as the spheres combined and fired a single energy wave at the goon, easily disintegrating him.

At the same time, Goku fired a Kamehameha at Nicky, and in a separate room, Piccolo fired the Special Beam Cannon at Sancho, the attack drilling through his chest.

"Right, now that they've been dealt with…" Raditz trailed off, his scouter having picked up Piccolo and Goku's power levels rising to eliminate their enemies.

He soon felt a tremor spread through the castle, making him blink as he as he started to head towards it, spotting his brother and Piccolo doing the same 'Honestly, I thought we were faster than canon.'

Quickly enough, the three of them arrived in time to see Garlic Jr throwing Kami against a pillar.

"Sorry, but even though I hate him as much as the next guy, I can't let you kill him." Piccolo said as he stepped forwards, his arm crossed in front of himself as he walked up to stand between Kami and Garlic Jr.

'This is either going to go horrible, or exceptionally well.' Raditz thought as he stood next to his brother. On one hand, assuming Garlic Jr. was the same as canon, then this would be a curb stomp. On the other hand, it might force him to use the Dead Zone sooner and possibly make things worse.

"So, those three couldn't stop you then, could they? Looks like I'll have to clean up the trash myself." Garlic Jr said with a growl.

"You can try midget." Raditz muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"What was that?!" Garlic Jr shouted as he rounded on him.

"Oh, look at that, the 2 foot dwarf heard me from beneath the clouds." Raditz added with a grin. The grin widened when he noticed Garlic Jr. looked like he was ready to pop a blood vessel.

"That… DOES IT!" At the same time as Garlic Jr shouted those words, his whole body suddenly grew, easily becoming twice the height of Piccolo.

Raditz… couldn't help himself. "Overcompensating much?"

Garlic Jr. didn't say anything for a good five seconds before… "YOU'RE DEAD!" he roared.

"Huh, not bad, new world record for pissing someone off," Piccolo couldn't help but smirk, before everyone had to fly out of the way of a bull rushing Garlic Jr, though Goku had to be grabbed by Raditz.

"Ok, first order of business once this is over, flying practice." Raditz told his brother as he let him go, Goku nodding sheepishly before focusing back on Garlic Jr, who had turned at them, or more specifically, at Raditz.

"I'm going to rip out your spine and use it to beat your body!" the expanded dwarf shouted before jumping up, the two brothers flying away from him as he smashed a column.

"Did you really have to push him like that?" Goku asked his brother with a glance.

"Trust me Kakarot, this is part of the plan." Raditz shot back.

"And what is the plan?" Piccolo asked from a few feet above.

"Make him wreck his own castle and then kick his ass of course." Raditz said with a grin.

Silence for a moment "I like it." Piccolo said with a smirk worthy of the devil.

"Hey, when in doubt, see if you can fool the enemy into playing into your hands," Raditz smirked in return.

"I don't know if it's good or bad you two are getting along." Goku sweatdropped as he glanced at them, before following his brothers lead, as the three of them started leading Garlic Jr. into smashing through the many columns of his castle, slowly making it shake more and more.

It wasn't long before pieces of the castle started to come down from the ceiling.

"Hey, um, guys? Just a thought, but won't the place come down on us as well?" Goku said as he moved out of the way of some falling rubble.

"We have energy blasts right? Make use of them." Raditz said as he threw a few ki blasts at falling pieces of ceiling, Goku and Piccolo copying his actions after a moment. "Keep it up, he'll tire himself out eventually!" Raditz said, before turning to Kami. "Hey, things are gonna get pretty rough here, and looks to me like you took a beating. If you want to get out of here, now's a good time!"

Kami grunted as he stood up, leaning on his cane "I appreciate the sentiment, but I intend to see this through to the end."

Raditz was a bit surprised, but decided that Earth's guardian would be able to handle himself well enough.

Back to focusing on Garlic Jr though, the overgrown midget seemed to be getting winded as he glared at the two saiyans and one namekian "Finally done running are you?"

"No more need to at this point." Raditz said with a shrug.

"Although I think we could do a bit more running over there." Goku said with a small grin as he pointed at a still standing column, Raditz chuckling at his little brother's joke.

"I'm going to enjoy killing each and everyone of you." Garlic Jr growled out, before rushing towards them.

Instead of them getting into fighting stances, Piccolo aimed his hand at the final pillar that was somehow managing to hold everything up… and shot it with a ki blast, shattering it into pieces.

Almost immediately, the roof came crashing down around everyone, Garlic Jr easily being crushed underneath several large pieces of rubble, while everyone else simply blasted away what fell towards their heads, save for Kami who simply used his energy to make a shield around himself, and Krillin, who was… running around, trying to avoid everything while carrying a sleeping Gohan in his arms, before a large slab finally hit the bald monk on top of the head, dazing him enough to knock him and make him drop Gohan, who fell down and ended up being covered by some smaller debris.

It wasn't long before the whole place had crumbled around everyone, leaving nothing but ruins.

"Well, glad that's over." Goku said with a relieved sigh.

"It's not over yet Goku, we're having our rematch here and now." Piccolo told him with a grin as he took his hat and cape off.

Goku grinned back as he took off his own weighted clothing "Can't say I don't like the idea."

"You two do that, I'm going to go look for Gohan." Raditz said, walking away from them with an amused smirk.

Meanwhile, as the two rival started once again to fight each other, a little ways off, Garlic Jr groaned as he crawled out from underneath the rubble of his castle, looking around, his scowl growing more and more prominent as he realised what had happened.

"You…. bastards… I'll make you pay!" Garlic Jr roared as he gathered his energy and focused it.

It wasn't long before a swirling vortex formed in the sky, bits and pieces of rubble being sucked into it.

Raditz had to punch his fist deep into the ground to stop himself from flying off, holding Kami down with him as the Dead Zone was open and trying to pull everything into it.

Goku and Piccolo had to stop their duel as they were almost sucked into it, clinging onto some of the castle's remains.

As for Krillin, he finally came to, only to nearly get sucked into it were it not for Raditz grabbing him with his tail.

"Wait, where's Gohan?" Raditz asked, honestly not remembering where his nephew was at the moment.

It was at that moment that the rubble covering the young half saiyan exploded away, getting pulled into the Dead Zone.

Raditz turned his head as his scouter detected an incredibly high power level "That's… almost as high as mine." he said, awe slipping into his tone, honestly being impressed with his nephew.

As Gohan's power practically rolled off of him, any piece of debris that even came close to him shattered away, brief flickers of aura appearing around him.

"What on earth is he? Why isn't the Dead Zone pulling him in?" Garlic Jr questioned as he stared at Gohan, who stared back with the best look of rage a 4 year old could muster.

"Holy shit, Kakarot! Your son's something else! Do you have any idea how rare it is for a child with THIS much power at a young age to be born?!" Raditz gasped.

The only other time this had happened was a baby born on the same day as his little brother- 'aw fuck, Broly, he was actually born, I remember seeing him… shit, we're gonna have to fight the Legendary Super Saiyan eventually.' Raditz stopped, realising what his memories meant.

Meanwhile, as Raditz was having a bit of a mental freakout, Garlic Jr had started using all of his power, increasing the force of the Dead Zone as it made Gohan start to budge a few inches.

"Leave… us… ALONE!" Gohan screamed in fury as he finally unleashed his power, releasing a huge ki blast at Garlic Jr, causing him to lose his footing and get knocked back, flying into the Dead Zone portal as he roared in anger.

"No! I won't let it end like this!" he roared, charging a ki blast in his hand, before throwing it towards Gohan.

'Wait, what?' Raditz mentally gasped. THIS never happened in the movie. So surprised he was, he never noticed what Goku did next.

"I won't let you!" Goku shouted, as he jumped off from where he was, firing a Kamehameha from his feet to propel himself in between Gohan and the blast.

When the blast him in the chest, all he seemed to get was a slight burn as he was able to tank it, making him wonder what it was supposed to accomplish as he knew Gohan could have taken the attack well enough with his power still flowing around him at the moment, before he suddenly felt… off, falling to his knees as he started to cough harshly, covering his mouth as a violent one went through him, before his eyes widened as he saw the blood on his hand.

"Internal… damage… huh?" he panted out, before falling down completely, while Gohan finally passed out behind him.

Moments later, the seemingly perpetual orange sky shattered around the area, the shards falling to the ocean below as everything finally settled.

It was after a minute of searching that everyone, Piccolo included, found Goku, still coughing up blood, with Gohan still unconscious close to him.

"Goku!" Krillin said in worry for his best friend as he rushed to his side "What happened?!"

Goku looked to Krillin, smiling a bit "Nothing much, just took a hit from that guy, I think it was special, it hurt my internal organs instead of the rest of my body."

"This isn't the time to be cracking jokes Kakarot!" Raditz scolded his brother for actually smiling as he died.

"I should have warned you about Garlic Jr's species Goku, Makyans, while they have seemingly weak ki blasts, they actually strike a target's insides, the energy dispersing through their body after making contact." Kami said regretfully, wishing he'd have mentioned it sooner rather than later.

"Dammit Goku! I was the one who was supposed to kill you!" Piccolo growled off to the side.

"Is there anything we can do?!" Raditz asked urgently, his mind racing. This was completely different than what was supposed to happen. What...then it hit him. Goku was SUPPOSED to die by Piccolo's hand while holding him down. But with him not being an enemy, there had to be another reason for Goku to die...and it seemed the timeline picked Garlic Jr. to be the one to do it.

'So, I guess the universe is sentient to a degree then, if it made sure that Kakarot still ended up dying.' he thought bitterly.

"I doubt my powers can heal him fast enough to undo the damage, and none of us are carrying Senzu beans at the moment." Kami said, sadly shaking his head.

"Dammit Kakarot, don't you dare die on me! I didn't have an epiphany and come looking for my last family member only for him to die on me!" Raditz was all but shouting now.

Goku looked to his brother at his words, smiling at him "Sorry… but, hey, it's not so bad, I'm sure I'll be back soon enough."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Raditz said, panicking enough he's completely forgotten about something important.

"Goku's right." Krillin said after taking a deep breath, before patting his best friend's shoulder "Rest easy buddy, we'll bring you back as soon as the dragon balls are in working order."

Goku nodded, before slowly closing his eyes, his breathing slowing, until finally, it stopped.

Son Goku, was dead.

Raditz looked down at his brother sadly, before his mind caught up to what had been said "Wait… dragon balls?" he repeated, his mind just remembering those existed, but the others took his confusion as something else.

"Their seven magical orbs that when you gather them, summon a dragon who can grant any wish you want." Krillin explained to the saiyan.

"Garlic Jr had even wished for immortality, though now, I'm sure he regrets it, stuck in the Dead Zone till the end of time." Kami said, a small smirk appearing on his lips.

"So, they can wish Kakarot back to life then?" Raditz asked, remembering he wasn't supposed to know about them.

"That's right, and thankfully, I gave the balls a bit of an upgrade recently, as normally Shenron could only resurrect people who died within the last year, but now he can resurrect those that have died in the last 5 years." Kami said, with Raditz mentally sighing in relief at the fact the guardian had thought of that.

"Well, well, well, I had a feeling listening to all of your sappy nonsense would eventually pay off." as soon as Raditz heard that voice, he froze, his eyes turning into pinpricks.

The others turned to him, or rather, to his scouter, as the voice continued to speak "Now, I do believe I'd like to have those dragon balls to myself, and besides, I need to head over there to kill you for daring to betray us."

As soon as the voice was finished, Raditz pressed a button on his scouter, cutting the radio transmission, as he looked to everyone.

"Well… this just got serious."

* * *

 **And there!**

 **Yeahp, Goku dies anyway.**

 **And that thing about Makyans is just a headcanon of mine so no one gets confused.**

 **Anyway, stopping things here for now, but stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball AS!**


	3. Chapter 2: Preparations and Discoveries

**Hey everyone, been a while since we worked on this story here huh?**

 **Well, admittedly, there are some stories you probably feel it's been even longer.**

 **But anyway, not the important part, what IS important, is we now enter the next events of the story.**

 **Which is kind of funny to think it just started, and there's already going to be a 1 year timeskip.**

 **Anyway, let's get this started!**

* * *

"So yeah...unless we get stronger real fast within one year we are completely and utterly SCREWED," Raditz topped it off, having been explaining the situation and what is to come in the Kame House, everyone looking decided uncomfortable, not JUST from his story, but also from the fact that Piccolo was sitting in the same house as them...and somehow not going murdery on them.

Gohan, for the meanwhile, was just sitting silently, staring at his lap as he held the four stall dragon ball, currently turned to stone, still processing the first thing he was told when he woke up.

His father was dead.

He'd already cried as much as he could, and though Piccolo told him to suck it up, Raditz on the other hand said it was normal for him to cry.

But… as for what Gohan wanted to do now… he wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. That his father, or anybody else for that matter, wouldn't have to sacrifice themselves to save him.

It was then that he remembered something though, as everyone else discussed how to handle the oncoming threat.

"What about mom?" he voiced, and everyone turned to him, with Krillin and Roshi turning to pale.

"Oh right… Chi Chi… how high are the chances she'd shoot the messenger after being told her husband is dead?" Krillin asked fearfully.

"I'll do it, pretty sure she can't kill a saiyan, and hey, if she manages to hurt me, free zenkai boost." Raditz said with a shrug "Besides, she's my sister in law, I should be meeting her as soon as I can. Not to mention, I'd like her consent to let Gohan get trained."

"Training Gohan? Why?!" Bulma asked incredulously "He's only 4 years old!"

"True, but he has saiyan blood in him, and if properly trained, he could be one of our strongest fighters, right?" Piccolo said, looking at Raditz, who nodded.

"Back when he blasted Garlic Jr, his power level was on par with my own, imagine what could happen if he harnesses that?" Raditz pointed out.

"I was… I was that strong?" Gohan asked in awe.

"You literally sent that crazy guy flying into a dimension where he'll never be able to escape from." Krillin added.

"Speaking of other dimensions though… we sure Goku will be able to train in Other World?" Bulma asked unsurely.

"He'd better, my other half is making sure he gets trained by King Kai, so I expect him to be powerful when he comes back." Piccolo said with narrowed eyes.

"So… Goku is training in heaven, Raditz is gonna train Gohan… the rest of us, besides Piccolo because why would he train with us-" "You don't say?" "Are probably gonna go to the lookout to get training from Kami." Krillin said, being cut off by Piccolo sarcastically in the middle.

"I'll call Yamcha, as much as I'm pissed at him right now, someone needs to do it." Bulma said with a sigh.

"I'll call Tien and let him know what's going on. I'm sure Chiaotzu is with him too, so that's someone else who could help us," Roshi said.

"Right. So...any suggestions on how I should break the news to my sister-in-law?" Raditz asked.

* * *

"So...this is the place…" Raditz said slowly as he looked at the house that Goku and his family called home. Honestly...he wasn't sure how best to do this.

"Are you ok uncle Raditz?" Gohan asked him, looking up at his newly discovered relative.

"I guess I'm a bit worried about how your mother will take the news." he said with a sigh. Eventually though, he decided to go for the direct route and knocked on the door.

The door soon opened, and out came the familiar form of Chi Chi. "Hello?" she said, before noticing her guest...and the fact her son was with him. "Gohan? Where's your father, and who is this?" she asked.

Gohan looked down, and before she could react, ran into her arms crying.

"About that...that's...a long story," Raditz sighed. "May I come in? I think you'll want to sit down for this…"

It took a bit of convincing, but eventually she let him in, and after he told her the full story well…

Obviously, she was crying and wailing, though Raditz was TRYING to tell her his little brother's friends would bring him back to life in year, but she just couldn't hear him.

Gohan finally managed to get her attention though thankfully "Mom! Dad's friends said they can use the Dragon Balls once their restored in a year!"

Slowly, Chi Chi calmed down as her son's words registered "Wait… so Goku will be back in a year?" she asked hopefully.

"That's right, we need to wait for the Dragon Balls to return from stone before he can be wished back, and in the meantime, he's being trained by one of the higher beings in Other World because of being informed of a threat coming to Earth in a year's time." Raditz explained.

"A threat? You mean there's something worse than Piccolo out there?!" Chi Chi asked worriedly.

"Much worse yes, two others of mine and my brother's race, their coming here to kill me for betraying them, take the Dragon Balls for themselves, and probably eradicate the planet while their at it. Chances are, Gohan will be a target for them as well, due to being half-saiyan." Raditz said gravely.

"But...why? I mean...aren't you all the same kind?" Chi Chi asked.

"I wish," Raditz rolled his eyes. "Let's just say even among fellow Saiyans we're not exactly buddy buddy, and leave it at that," he sighed. "Seriously, you don't want to know…"

Chi Chi gulped a bit, but quickly tried to compose herself a little. "So...you need to get ready for what's coming in a year...and Gohan needs to train too...is that REALLY necessary?" she asked, not liking the idea of her son fighting.

"Honestly? I'd like if he DOESN'T have to, but Gohan has some serious potential in him. And like it or not, Vegeta and Nappa are far beyond me, or what Kaka...I mean, Goku could do before he died. We need EVERY possible advantage we have," Raditz sighed.

Chi Chi thought about it. Thought long and hard about it. On one hand she didn't like the idea at all of her son having to fight...but she also knew how strong her husband was...and that if what her apparent brother-in-law was saying is true...then this was going to be a do or die fight, where if they lost...the entire Earth loses...with that in mind… "Alright. But, what kind of training are you planning to do?" she asked.

"Wilderness survival, I'll be watching over him while I do my own training, so he won't ever be in any real danger." Raditz answered easily, planning on the same method Piccolo did, well, for the most part.

Chi Chi thought about it and nodded. "That's fair. It's a decently fast way to grow," she said, remembering her own days as a kid. "But needless to say, if anything happens to Gohan…" she left the threat hang.

"I'm pretty sure if anything happens to him, one way or another Vegeta and Nappa won't need to rip my head off...for the wrong reasons…" Raditz sighed.

"I'm glad you understand," Chi Chi nodded.

"Alright, now, Gohan, go and change into something else, you're allowed to bring one change of clothes with you, besides that, you'll have to survive with what you find in the wild." Raditz told his nephew seriously.

"Alright." Gohan said, getting off the couch, before pausing… "What should I change into?"

"Don't worry sweetie, I'll help you out with that." Chi Chi said and ushered him to his room, before looking at Raditz "I wish we could have met under better circumstances."

"So do I Chi Chi, but I'm sure we'll have time to talk and exchange embarrassing stories about my brother once this is all over." Raditz said with a smirk.

Chi Chi laughed at that "I'm sure there's plenty of things he managed to do as a baby." she said, before going to help her son change.

* * *

"Here we are," Raditz, now missing his scouter, said as he dropped Gohan, whom was now wearing an orange gi similar in style to what his father had (he suspected it was LITERALLY one of his old Gis at that), on top of a small rock mountain...that honestly looked more like a tower, Piccolo floating not far away. "Your wilderness training starts now," he said.

"Okay...so...what am I supposed to do?" Gohan asked.

"Well...bluntly put. Survive. You're gonna need to start by learning to take care of yourself," Raditz started. "Things like food and shelter, you're gonna have to find yourself. We're only here to make sure you don't die, so as long as we think you can still handle something, you're on your own kid. Sorry."

Gohan frowned a bit, but nodded in acceptance "Any advice you can offer me at least?"

Raditz hummed, before nodding "If you want to try to harness your energy, get as angry as you can, that works for most Saiyans. A suggestion would be picturing Garlic Jr hurting those you care about."

Gohan seemed unsure, but nodded all the same, before Raditz soon floated out of view. With his uncle gone, Gohan now had to deal with the next issue facing him. "...did he have to put me all the way up here?" he sighed, looking down. It WAS still quite a drop.

A decent distance away, Raditz was floating with Piccolo. "So, I guess we should start training too," Raditz mused.

"For you perhaps," Piccolo smirked.

"...helpful," Raditz said sarcastically "But we're roughly on equal levels, so this is training for both of us." he added as he got into a stance, while Piccolo threw off his weighted clothing and did the same. True enough, the two were quite evenly matched. Able to match each other blow for blow, and from a few small Ki clashes, it really did prove that this wouldn't be an easy fight for either of them. "You're definitely strong. Probably on an upper level to the other Namekians from the Warrior Tribe," Raditz said.

"Ok, this is the second time you've called me that. The hell is a Namekian?" Piccolo asked with some slight annoyance.

"An alien obviously, from Namek." Raditz answered simply.

Piccolo paused at that "I always thought I was a demon."

"More of a slug race really." Raditz pointed out.

"Dammit!" Piccolo shouted, before renewing his attack.

"Just cause they're slug-like doesn't make them weak though! They're actually pretty strong!" Raditz added quickly, evading a strong punch.

"Still pisses me off!" Piccolo said as he fired a ki blast, which Raditz countered with his own.

"Can't blame you I guess, it always ticks me off when Frieza calls us Saiyans 'monkeys'." Raditz said with an annoyed grunt.

"You mentioned his name too. Who is this 'Frieza'?" Piccolo asked.

"Evil Overlord who basically has a 'follow or die' mentality. Either you fall in line, or you die...or he gets bored or annoyed and you die just cause he wants you to," Raditz said simply.

"Well… sounds like an extreme version of my dad… who is technically my previous incarnation." Piccolo noted.

"Let's NOT delve into those kinds of details." Raditz said dryly.

"Agreed." Piccolo said with a nod, before the two resumed sparring.

This became a common routine for the next few days, while still keeping an eye on Gohan, who actually had managed to slowly climb down (though Raditz DID have to save him once or twice...and then put him back on the hill as a penalty much to Gohan's displeasure). However, there was a small...issue...during one night. The night of a full moon.

"Shitshitshitshitshit!" Raditz swore as he flew towards the destruction, having been overlooking the area for the day and blowing anything that was too far up from Gohan's weight class at the moment, the task taking him most of the day, till he remember it was a full moon night… right as he heard the loud roar.

"What the heck?!" Piccolo gasped when he saw the gigantic ape.

"I forgot tonight is a full moon!" Raditz said, pointedly closing his eyes to avoid seeing the full moon for now. "Saiyans who see it turn into Great Apes. It's a common tactic used to conquer low powered planets, as Great Apes make even infants capable of destroying entire cities!"

"Well how do we stop it?!" Piccolo asked as he dodged a beam that Gohan shot out of his mouth.

"Two methods, cut off his tail, or blow up the moon, but I have a better idea." Raditz said, and hoped he wouldn't regret his next action, as he opened his eyes, and looked straight up at the full moon.

It was a… unique sensation to say the least. He could feel the blutz waves pulsing through his body as they travelled to his tail, forcing the transformation onto his body, and where normally he would expect himself to lose his mind, while the Saiyan half of himself was turning more feral, the human half of his mind was keeping a tight chain on the rage and fury, helping him keep as clear a mind as he could.

With the change complete, Raditz now stood in his own Great Ape form, his armor stretched with his body, his long hair turning into a rather wild mane of fur on his back. Looking at the out of control Gohan, he charged forward, and the two great apes began grappling and/or wrestling, Raditz clearly having the advantage. Eventually he saw his prize, the tail at the end, and grabbed hold. "Sorry kid," he mumbled, before savagely ripping it off, causing his opponent to roar in pain, before he started slowly shrinking down and before long, Gohan was on the ground, naked and back to normal.

Looking down, he was relieved to see that he hadn't done any damage to Gohan by ripping the tail off, somehow having managed to pull it in a way to produced something like a clean cut.

"Now then… I guess I might as well practice in this form while I'm at it." he said with a sigh.

"You might want to find a different place to do that." Piccolo informed him as he walked over to Gohan.

"Probably a good idea yeah. Think you could do something about his wardrobe problem?" Raditz asked.

"Not an issue," Piccolo said, before suddenly conjuring clothes on Gohan's body, looking just like the gi he had used before, though the name on the back was that of Piccolo's.

Raditz looked at the Namekian dryly "You like stroking that ego huh?"

Piccolo simply shrugged, before deciding to add in a sword for Gohan, considering ki attacks weren't easy for him yet, he could at least use it to properly hunt.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go look for a spot to train, flare your power level sometimes so I can practice sensing as well, would you?" Raditz requested as he started floating up a bit.

"Sure." Piccolo said simply as he started meditating.

* * *

A week soon passed without much incident. From the few times he'd come back to check on Gohan, the kid was doing well for himself. As such, Raditz was getting more and more bold in flying a bit further, exploring and training his various abilities, especially his ability to sense Ki. He didn't want to rely on the scouters as much as he could.

At the moment, he was exploring a mountain range south of the wasteland where they were training Gohan.

"Man, this planet is pretty much 65% percent nature compared to the Earth from my human life." he muttered to himself, honestly amazed at how little the people of this planet seemed to bother with making huge cities, oh sure, there were a good few of those, but most of the planet was still forests, wastelands, oceans and mountains.

As he flew around, he soon sensed an odd energy signature. "Hm?" he mused, before going towards the location of the energy. The trail lead him towards some mountains, and apparently was deep in them too. Now VERY curious, he continued inward, slowly homing in on the energy.

As he got closer and closer to the energy signature, he could soon see an explosion at the base of one of the mountains, one he could feel the energy signature coming from.

"What the hell?" he said in confusion, before flying down, seeing a cave entrance at the base of the mountain with smoke coming out of it, flying into it while covering his mouth, soon spotting what appeared to be a pair of metal doors blown wide open, flying through them and entering…

"Is… this some sort of secret lab?" he muttered to himself, before quickly refocusing as the lab blew up around him.

He could still sense the power signature, so acting quickly, he ran through the lab, not paying too much attention to the details of it. His focus was that if someone was here, they might be in trouble.

For some reason, the power signature kept moving further away from him, confusing him somewhat, till he reached a room that held an… interesting discovery.

"No way…" He trailed off, as a pod was present in the room, standing upright, and written on that pod… was the number 21, along with the letters RR in a red ribbon shape.

Quickly getting his wits about him, he looked into the small glass on the pod, confirming his suspicions, before he grabbed the pod and pulled it away from the wall, carrying it with him as he started to blast an opening for himself as the lab crumbled around him.

Once he was outside, and the lab was now completely destroyed, he laid the pod on the ground, and slowly pried it open. Inside was a rather… curvaceous woman, with glasses on her face and long, bushy auburn hair, hoop earrings, and her nails were painted black. She wore a red and blue sleeveless dress that reached her thighs, with black stockings and sleeves on her arms, as well as a pair of high heeled boots, one red, and the other blue.

What REALLY shocked him though, was the auburn colored saiyan tail wrapped around her waist.

"Wait… if this is who I think it is… she's a bit different… but… Frieza hasn't shown up yet, Cell is FAR from finished, and Buu still hasn't been released, so… she only has the saiyan DNA mixed into her, probably taken and modified from my brother, meaning she's a half saiyan cyborg." Raditz muttered to himself in realisation.

He also noticed that, unlike her original depiction, the woman before him lacked a ring on her left middle finger, making him raise a curious eyebrow, but ultimately just chose to ignore it. Now the only issue was waiting for her to wake up. Fortunately he didn't have to wait long, as the woman was starting to come to.

"Huh? Where...am I?" she asked almost dazed.

"Welcome to the world of the waking miss." Raditz said as he held his hand out to her, the woman blinking a few times before taking it and being pulled out of the pod, holding onto his hand as she took a moment to stabilize her wobbly legs, before letting go.

"What is this place?" the woman asked as she looked around, her piercing blue eyes scanning her surroundings, before she looked at Raditz "And for that matter, who are you?"

"My name is Raditz, I found you asleep in that pod over there, stuck in a lab that was blowing up, if I had to guess, you were left there by whoever I sensed was fleeing the lab.

"I was just left there to die?" the woman asked incredulously, while Raditz tried to sense for a power level coming from her, getting nothing at all, at least confirming she was a cyborg, until she spoke again "Well, if you really did pull me out of there, you have my thanks Raditz."

"Don't worry about it, I only did what any other decent person would have done." he said with a smile.

She nodded in thanks, before noticing something and looking down, specifically at the furry appendage wrapped around her waist "What the… why do I have a tail?" she said as she poked it, shivering as she did so, as it felt somewhat sensitive.

"Because from what I can tell, you appear to be a Saiyan, just like me, or maybe a half saiyan, as if you were full blooded, your hair would be dark." Raditz informed her.

"A Saiyan you say? What's that?" the woman asked curiously, as she tried to move her tail, unwinding it from her waist and waving it a bit to test how flexible it was.

"A warrior race that originates from Planet Sadala, though our home was destroyed due to internal conflict, forcing us to relocate to Planet Plant, which was renamed Planet Vegeta after we conquered it… yeah, our race is a bunch of battle maniacs." Raditz summed up with a sigh.

"I see…" the woman frowned. "Though...you don't seem like that."

"Well, yeah not right now. Funny what a near death experience can do for introspection, huh?" Raditz chuckled lightly.

"Ah." she said simply, her eyes going to the hole in his armor, the scar plainly visible through it "So that's what that is."

"Yeah." he said, looking at the scar "It's a good reminder to not become the old me again."

"The old you huh?" the woman mused, before frowning in confusion "I… well… that's strange… I can't remember anything."

"Well...maybe its a side effect of the pod. Maybe you'll get them back with a bit of time," Raditz said.

"I hope they do…" the woman said softly, before looking at the pod she had been asleep in "So, this is what you found me in?" she asked as she looked it over, before her eyes fell on the large 21 printed on it.

"Yeah, it was probably keeping you in some sort of stasis." he said with a shrug, figuring that was the most likely case.

"I see." she murmured, her fingers tracing the number on it "Well… I need a name… I think I'll call myself 21, for now at least." the newly named 21 said.

"Alright, 21," Raditz nodded, before a pause hit. "Uh...since you don't have anywhere to go, mind if I take you to...an acquaintance if you will. She MIGHT be able to help you out."

"Well...alright," 21 nodded slowly, honestly not sure what else to say. As it was, she literally had no other leads or clues.

"Do you know how to fly?" he asked her, demonstrating by floating up about a foot off the ground.

"I… don't know." she said with a frown, before trying to fly up from the ground as well, eventually getting it after a minute of failed attempts, though she obviously wasn't the best at it.

"Alright, I guess I'll have to carry you," Raditz sighed, before bending down so she could get on his back. "Get on."

21 seemed nervous for a moment, but eventually nodded and soon climbed on his back, and the two were soon in the sky, headed for the city where Raditz knew Capsule Corp was located.

* * *

"Well that's...really something," Bulma blinked after they finished telling their story.

"Crazy I know, but yeah, that's what happened," Raditz sighed.

"Did you by any chance see any odd markings on the Capsule? Maybe some symbol so we have an idea where it came from?" Bulma asked.

"Well...there WAS that symbol. Looked like some Red triangles...with two Rs on it," Raditz said.

Bulma's eyes widened at that "Oh… shit!"

"Is something the matter?" 21 asked in worry.

"Kinda? The two Rs means Red Ribbon, an army that Goku destroyed a little over 10 years ago. They were into World Domination obviously, and they had a penchant for building robots according to him, most notable is his good friend, Android 8, or Eighter as he calls himself apparently." Bulma explained.

"Okay...but that lab was sure active before someone set it to blow up," Raditz frowned.

"So… there's a remnant of the army still around then?" Bulma said with a frown "That's bad, they'll probably want revenge on Goku, maybe that's what 21 was being made for."

"So… I was made to kill Raditz's brother then?" 21 said with a frown.

"I don't think you were MADE so to speak." Bulma said, patting an operation table "Lie down here, I'll get an x-ray of your body."

21 nodded, lying down on the table, while a machine lowered from the ceiling, and started slowly moving up and down her body, some sort of green light coming from it as Bulma moved to a computer.

After about a minute, an image came up on the screen, Bulma looking at it closely "Yeah, looks like I was right."

"What is it?" Raditz asked, though he had an idea what she had just figured out.

"She's definitely half saiyan, that much is for sure, the readings are pretty similar to the times I've scanned Goku, but she also has some cybernetic parts inside of her." she explained.

"Keyword being 'some' right?" Raditz added with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeahp, she's a cyborg, a human, or half saiyan in this case, modified with cybernetic pieces." Bulma said with a nod as she turned back to the auburn haired woman who was sitting up.

"That doesn't really explain why I'm half-saiyan though." 21 said with a frown.

"Yeah… guess that'll need more looking into." Bulma said with a frown "If you want, you could stay here while we try to figure things out?"

21 took a few moments to think about it, before nodding at Bulma with a smile "I'd appreciate it, thank you."

"Thanks for this, Bulma," Raditz nodded.

"It's no problem," Bulma nodded...before a thought crossed her mind. "Hey...I just realized, you're from space, right?"

"Uh...yeah?" Raditz blinked.

"Then that's alien armor you're wearing. Mind if I borrowed it? I'd love to analyze the materials," she said.

"Well...I don't mind, but this is literally the only outfit I have. I'm gonna need to borrow a new one while you have this," he said, scratching the back of his head.

Bulma thought about it. "Hm...maybe you could borrow some of my dad's clothes for now," Bulma suggested.

"...I don't mind," Raditz nodded. Before long, he was dressed in an pair of pants since as it turns out, he was a bit too big for Dr. Brief's shirts. "Well...better than nothing."

"Since you're doing training, you should probably talk to Master Roshi. He could provide you with something a bit more durable than my dad's pants," Bulma suggested with an amused smirk.

"Good idea," Raditz nodded, before turning to 21 "I'll come see you from time to time, gotta make sure your memories come back after all."

"Thank you again for finding me Raditz." she said with a grateful smile.

Raditz smiled in return before he was soon out the window and flying to the Kame House. A quick explanation after he arrived, and he was soon dressed in one of the turtle school gis, even if it felt a bit awkward due to the fact he wasn't ACTUALLY part of the school...something Roshi chuckled and even offered to take him in if he was interested after this whole thing was over.

"I'll think about it." Raditz said with a grin, before taking off back towards the wastelands.

Time soon went on as normal. Gohan had proven himself able to survive so his training could begin. The months passed in almost a blur as everyone was busy training, though Raditz did take some time to visit everyone and get to know them here and there. Overall, it seemed everyone was working hard to be able to be as ready as they could be for the coming battle. They would need it.

* * *

 **Voila!**

 **So, yeah, the human mind was actually able to help keep the Great Ape form in control.**

 **And the moon wasn't blown up now, mostly because that was kind of... silly in my opinion.**

 **Other thing you noticed, Chi Chi NOT being a raging banshee.**

 **We toned her down just a bit for the fic, because, hey, she was a fighter as well, and if it's explained to her correctly, she'd understand her son needs to be able to defend himself.**

 **And the last surprise (lol) Android 21 appearing already, and with a saiyan tail.**

 **As Raditz figured, it's because she only had the saiyan DNA intergrated into her, nothing from Frieza, Cell or Buu as they haven,t appeared on Earth yet.**

 **There's gonna be more stuff about her later on, but I won't say what, you'll have tune in for the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball AS!**


End file.
